Fly Me to the Moon

Fly Me to the Moon

Expansion of flavors – and, possibly, its facility – are on tap for cidery’s second year

The recent addition of tea to its line-up of flavor additives – joining hops and caramel – has helped keep Mad Moon Craft Cidery’s offerings distinct in the fast-growing world of hard cider.

Mad Moon – operating out of North Linden and owned by New Albany residents Peter and Sally Moon – officially came onto the scene this past October.

“We really try to look for unique flavors that are not on the market, and the challenge is finding local ingredients to make that product,” says Peter. “A lot of it’s trial and error. We think of flavors that we think the consumer would like, and then we go out and try to find products locally, and experiment and see if the particular flavor will work. We don’t want to bring something out that’s not all the way there.”

As of now, Mad Moon has three ciders on the market: Unglued Caramel Apple, HopWired and the baby of the family, Beastie Tea, which was introduced Memorial Day weekend.

The Moons started their cider endeavors at home before going commercial.

“We were home brewing for a while, and I thought we were getting pretty good at it, and thought it would be a good business model to test,” says Peter. “My wife and I actually had a retail store in Easton Town Center. We were there until 2013, and we just decided to get out of retail and take some time off. We were looking for another business to get into, and we just thought that it would be worth a try to open a craft cidery.”

And apparently it was. Mad Moon cider is now carried at locations all over the city.

“We’ve been fortunate that the local vendors like our product,” says Peter.

Mad Moon cider is available in major stores such as the Andersons, as well as smaller local markets such as Lucky’s Market and Weiland’s Market. It’s also on tap at Barley Hopsters in Delaware and Clintonville’s Bob’s Bar and Lineage Brewing, among other locations.

Photo by Garth Bishop

Fly Me to the Moon

Peter emphasizes the part Sally has played in the process of creating Mad Moon.

“She was really instrumental,” he says, “especially in the concepts of the flavors and working out the details on the ratios of ingredients and whatnot.”

Creating a market for craft cider is all about educating the consumer, Peter says.

“A lot of (commercial-grade ciders) are made with concentrate and added sugars, and water is their main ingredient,” he says. “Once you try a craft beer, you are like, ‘Wow, this is how beer is supposed to taste.’ And it’s the same with craft cider. You can taste the apple, you can taste the whole product.”

Mad Moon is quickly outgrowing its current location in a nondescript warehouse park, and an expansion may be in its future, Peter says.

“We’re running out of space where we are now, so if we’re successful enough, we’re going to look for another location and another production facility, and hopefully have enough space to open up a cider house,” he says. “We’d love to have a place where predominantly what’s available are hard ciders.”

Athnie McMillan-Comeaux is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.